Kids Rock Las Vegas

December 5, 2009

After Disneyland, Leigha was excited to sign up for another race. Her next opportunity was the Las Vegas Rock n Roll Kids' Marathon. Leigha's race would be 1 mile. That was A LOT for Leigha to run. The funny thing is that she never wants to run at school, only for the races.

Unfortunately, it was very windy and cold that morning. Leigha was a trooper and was excited for her race.



I asked someone how many times around the track the kids had to run, and I was told it was a little less than 4 laps. I explained to Leigha that she would have to run around 3 full laps and then head towards the finish line.



As she was circling the track, I counted her laps for her. She definitely struggled with the distance and the weather, but she was a trooper and kept going. There were kids who were a lot faster than her, and then there were kids who were slower than she was. Unfortunately, the race officials were not taking into consideration the different speeds of the kids. After a few of the kids completed their 3rd lap, they started sending them over to the end shoots. I told one of the volunteers that some of the kids were still a lap behind the other kids, but he didn't seem to care. As Leigha came around the backside, I told her to go around the track one more time since. I wanted her to complete the mile that she had intended on running. I am not sure if that was a mistake on my part or not. I was the last parent to send their kid around again. This frustrated Leigha and I could tell immediately. All of the kids who had been behind her, were now finished. She was now in last place and I think that just made her want to stop and walk. That's when Ronald McDonald decided to run out on the track and join her for her last part of her run!



It was a perfect ending to a frustrating race for her. I explained what had happened, but she was still not too pleased that I made her run that extra lap. I think she was more upset that she was the last person to cross the finish line, but I told her that I was proud of her for completing what she started and the entire race!



As cold as she was, she LOVED the race!



I was VERY proud of her!

After her race, we headed over to the Expo to meet up with some of my friends. Leigha and I had some fun looking at all of the different booths, collecting samples, and getting our picture taken at the finish line. (The time on the clock fascinated me later, it was within seconds of my actual time there.)



Later that evening, all of my friends from out of town, got together for dinner at PF Changs. Leigha was thrilled to be included. We were all excited for the upcoming race.